Recently, it was announced that fantasy author Brandon Sanderson had signed a massive deal with Apple TV+ to bring his best-selling Cosmere series of books to the streamer. The plan is for the series Mistborn and The Stormlight Archive to enter production as both streaming series and feature films. Now, the prolific author has broken his silence, and spoken at length on his YouTube channel (via The Hollywood Reporter) on what his fans can expect. The first thing he mentioned was that Apple had granted him unprecedented creative control. Far more than most authors receive when their book receives an adaptation. Sanderson, who has been writing in the Cosmere world for twenty years, will write, produce, consult, and have cast approvals. Here’s what he told his legion of fans:
This is what I’ve been trying [to do] for years. Back in May, I flew out to Hollywood and did pitches to all the major streamers and studios. I had a lot of great experiences. Things were different this time around. I was with studio heads. I was meeting really exciting people. Basically, everybody tried to bid on Mistborn and Stormlight. I ended up picking Apple. There were a lot of reasons for this. I really liked the vibe with a lot of these meetings. There weren’t any bad meetings in the group. [But] part of it was the amount of control that Apple was willing to offer. But it’s less about control and more about the partnership and the partnership felt right with Apple. I really like how they’ve been doing Apple TV+ and their very careful rollout of specific films.
The current plan is to do Mistborn as feature films and Stormlight as a streaming show. However, Sanderson said, “That could change as we develop these things.” Sanderson will have a lot of creative control, but he won’t be showrunning the series alone. Which makes sense, as he has no television experience. He mentioned he will be a co-showrunner on the series, “so we’re going to be hunting down that other person.” As for how this will impact the writing of his novels, Sanderson said that yes, “This will impact my writing schedule — not to the point that I think you need to worry. Mistborn Ghostbloods is going to be on time in 2028.” So, don’t expect a George R.R. Martin situation, where the book never arrives. At least, that’s the plan. We’ll have to see if that plan pans out.